Wholesale Spike Likely To Raise Prices Fast

California refinery maintenance shutdowns are reportedly causing a spike in wholesale prices that is already causing rapid price increases at gas stations, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch. The state average is $4.007 a gallon for regular today – 3.2 cents higher than last week.

The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $4.052 per gallon, which is 5.2 cents more than last week, 4 cents lower than last month, and 9 cents higher than last year. In San Diego, the average price is $4.034, which is 5.7 cents above last week, 2 cents below last month, and 11 cents higher than last year. On the Central Coast, the average price is $4.085, up 3.6 cents from last week, 4 cents lower than a month ago, and 9 cents more than last year. In the Inland Empire, the average per-gallon price is $4.008, up 4.4 cents from last week, 3.5 cents lower than last month, and 9 cents more than last year.

“Rapid price spikes unfortunately are becoming all too common in Southern California, and have been typically uncommon during the summer,” said Auto Club spokesperson Jeffrey Spring. “Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance which is one of the state’s largest, is reportedly shutting down its only crude processing unit after already performing a month of maintenance in May. On May 30, the refinery had a power outage that caused the evacuation of 1,000 workers and this shutdown may be related to that incident.”

The Weekend Gas Watch monitors the average price of gasoline. As of 9 a.m. on June 20, averages are:

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The Automobile Club of Southern California is a member club affiliated with the American Automobile Association (AAA) national federation and serves members in the following California counties: Inyo, Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura. Find a different AAA club.